1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a connector for use in connecting metal pipes or resin pipes (hereinafter referred to as "conducting pipes") which are in a relatively small diameter on the order of approximately 20 mm in pipe diameter and arranged to form a feeding channel for supplying oil or supplying air or gas generally to automobiles or to various types of machines, equipments, or the like.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The conventional piping connector of this kind is constructed in such a manner, as disclosed, for example, in the Japanese Patent Publication No. 10711-Showa 64 (1989), that a retaining element is inserted into a housing (the main body of a joint), the jaw-form end part of the retaining element being subsequently thrust open outwards by the annular surface of a conducting pipe as the conducting pipe is inserted, the jaw-form end part of the retaining element thus permitting the insertion of the conducting pipe, and the jaw-form end part of the retaining element then moving inwards to resume its original position upon the passage of the annular surface means of the conducting pipe through the jaw-form end part mentioned above, thereby getting into its direct contact with a suspending wall formed on the conducting pipe and thereby securing the conducting pipe so as to prevent the pipe from falling out.
However, the conventional piping connector described above presents the problem that the joint of the connector as a whole has a large size because the connector requires a larger diameter of its retaining device as compared with that of the conducting pipe in order to ensure a proper snapping action of the elastic claws of the retaining device at the time when a conducting pipe is inserted into the retaining device and also because the connector requires an extended length for the same reason, so that the piping connector is hard to set in a narrow space.